forbidden: you don't have access

[greg <em...@gregorybittar.com>]

I am trying to reinstall Tomcat, in particular the beta 4, ver 3.2.
Whoever decided that not having basic security implemented and working
correctly in 3.1 made a mistake, imo.  The advice has been to try using
one of the betas, but this isn't a way that people can build their own
production systems using Tomcat.  Seeing that something so basic as user
authentication was not working, I think the prudent thing to do would
have been to go back and re-release 3.1 with this vital feature
working.  Indeed, for many people, there is no version 3.1 if there is
no user authentication in 3.1.

Biting the bullet, I have spent the last several days trying to get the
beta to work on my machine, not knowing what to expect next.  I am
having several problems.  The shutdown script is not working.  But the
real misfortune so far is that I am having difficulty even accessing my
application.   I try variously with 8080 and 8007 ports, and I have
tried re-installing Tomcat twice, and even copied back my ORIGINAL
Tomcat 3.1 installation, which had been working fine, and now I get this
behaviour:

localhost:8080/myWebApp -> works when Tomcat is set to 8080, doesn't
when Tomcat is set to 8007.
mydomain.com/myWebApp -> "403 Forbidden: You don't have access to
myWebApp on this server

I've checked all the file and directory rights I can think of.  Could
Tomcat have permanently unsettled my Apache environment?  The weird
thing is that my first installation of the beta was going along
more-or-less smoothly until I added a security-constraint to myWebApp's
web.xml file.  Ever since then, I have been contending with 'forbidden'
errors.  Versions of Tomcat have come and gone on my server, as I
attempt to regain a stable environment, and yet the song remains the
same.

Apologies to the Tomcat folks for my rant.  Up until now I have been
hunky dory, but I have some production stuff I have to get out the door.

Re: forbidden: you don't have access

[greg <em...@gregorybittar.com>]

Trying to further matters along, I repointed Apache's httpd.conf file to
include tomcat.conf rather than tomcat-apache.conf (my interpretation of
the tomcat-apache howto document is that perhaps either one is ok to use,
since they are both called for in the howto).  The difference in behaviour
is slight.  When Tomcat is set to 8007, again the application stiffens and
dies.  Whatever page I ask for, I am told that URL doesn't exist on the
server.  When Tomcat is set to 8080, localhost:8080/myWebApp access works
perfectly across my application, but domain.com/myWebApp access balks with
the error message 'URL does not exist'.

Incidentally, the shutdown script seems to work correctly when Tomcat is
running on 8007 rather than 8080 in beta 4

greg wrote:

> I am trying to reinstall Tomcat, in particular the beta 4, ver 3.2.
> Whoever decided that not having basic security implemented and working
> correctly in 3.1 made a mistake, imo.  The advice has been to try using
> one of the betas, but this isn't a way that people can build their own
> production systems using Tomcat.  Seeing that something so basic as user
> authentication was not working, I think the prudent thing to do would
> have been to go back and re-release 3.1 with this vital feature
> working.  Indeed, for many people, there is no version 3.1 if there is
> no user authentication in 3.1.
>
> Biting the bullet, I have spent the last several days trying to get the
> beta to work on my machine, not knowing what to expect next.  I am
> having several problems.  The shutdown script is not working.  But the
> real misfortune so far is that I am having difficulty even accessing my
> application.   I try variously with 8080 and 8007 ports, and I have
> tried re-installing Tomcat twice, and even copied back my ORIGINAL
> Tomcat 3.1 installation, which had been working fine, and now I get this
> behaviour:
>
> localhost:8080/myWebApp -> works when Tomcat is set to 8080, doesn't
> when Tomcat is set to 8007.
> mydomain.com/myWebApp -> "403 Forbidden: You don't have access to
> myWebApp on this server
>
> I've checked all the file and directory rights I can think of.  Could
> Tomcat have permanently unsettled my Apache environment?  The weird
> thing is that my first installation of the beta was going along
> more-or-less smoothly until I added a security-constraint to myWebApp's
> web.xml file.  Ever since then, I have been contending with 'forbidden'
> errors.  Versions of Tomcat have come and gone on my server, as I
> attempt to regain a stable environment, and yet the song remains the
> same.
>
> Apologies to the Tomcat folks for my rant.  Up until now I have been
> hunky dory, but I have some production stuff I have to get out the door.

Re: forbidden: you don't have access

[greg <em...@gregorybittar.com>]

I would like to thank Sean for lending a helping hand and some emotional
support.  As is so often the case, I usually figure things out once I have
invited the world to help me, as if I will be embarrased if someone else figures
out my problem!   Well, suffice it to say that after re-installing the beta (ver
4) a couple more times, things did fall into place and now I am running basic
user authentication against a Postgres database (for usernames and passwords).
If there was one or more points of confusion, one was whether I should be
including tomcat.conf or tomcat-apache.conf.   Currently I am doing the former.
The other point of confusion for me was that I didn't realize that if I start
Tomcat on port 8080, that the webapp wouldn't be accessible from my domain name
and, vice versa, if I start it from 8007, then the webapp wouldn't be accessible
from localhost:8080.   I hadn't realized that because up until this time I had
both ports up and running.  Silly me.  It's great to have a working web server
again!  Thanks again to Sean and Tomcat Team.

greg wrote:

> Thanks Sean, but I do not think that solves my problem.  I've noticed that
> when I access Apache (checking out /var/log/access.log), that whenever I do
> not add the '/' slash to the end of a directory name, then Apache seemingly
> puts one in there for me and re-executes the page.  In any case, I have tested
> my server with localhost:8080/myWebApp/  and it hasn't changed things.  In
> fact, I am having more problems with access through my domain name than with
> the localhost.  Maybe I'm just all burned out.  Thanks for trying to help
> though.  I appreciate the genuine interest.
>
> Sean Schofield wrote:
>
> > This sort of sounds like a problem I was having.  Basically I couldn't get
> > to various apps (including the examples) one through Apache-Tomcat but I
> > could get them fine through Tomcat standalone (port 8080) but didn't work
> > when I was running Apache and Tomcat together and hitting port 80.
> >
> > I accidentally stumbled upon the solution when I was trying the links from
> > the Jakarta welcome page (on 8080) and then just highlighted the ':8080' in
> > the URL and deleted it.  It worked!  The difference was that the URL had an
> > extra '/' at the end.  Try 'localhost:8080/myWebApp/' with an extra '/' at
> > the end.
> >
> > Let me know if it worked.
> >
> > - schof
> >
> > At 04:42 PM 9/25/00 -0400, you wrote:
> > >I am trying to reinstall Tomcat, in particular the beta 4, ver 3.2.
> > >Whoever decided that not having basic security implemented and working
> > >correctly in 3.1 made a mistake, imo.  The advice has been to try using
> > >one of the betas, but this isn't a way that people can build their own
> > >production systems using Tomcat.  Seeing that something so basic as user
> > >authentication was not working, I think the prudent thing to do would
> > >have been to go back and re-release 3.1 with this vital feature
> > >working.  Indeed, for many people, there is no version 3.1 if there is
> > >no user authentication in 3.1.
> > >
> > >Biting the bullet, I have spent the last several days trying to get the
> > >beta to work on my machine, not knowing what to expect next.  I am
> > >having several problems.  The shutdown script is not working.  But the
> > >real misfortune so far is that I am having difficulty even accessing my
> > >application.   I try variously with 8080 and 8007 ports, and I have
> > >tried re-installing Tomcat twice, and even copied back my ORIGINAL
> > >Tomcat 3.1 installation, which had been working fine, and now I get this
> > >behaviour:
> > >
> > >localhost:8080/myWebApp -> works when Tomcat is set to 8080, doesn't
> > >when Tomcat is set to 8007.
> > >mydomain.com/myWebApp -> "403 Forbidden: You don't have access to
> > >myWebApp on this server
> > >
> > >I've checked all the file and directory rights I can think of.  Could
> > >Tomcat have permanently unsettled my Apache environment?  The weird
> > >thing is that my first installation of the beta was going along
> > >more-or-less smoothly until I added a security-constraint to myWebApp's
> > >web.xml file.  Ever since then, I have been contending with 'forbidden'
> > >errors.  Versions of Tomcat have come and gone on my server, as I
> > >attempt to regain a stable environment, and yet the song remains the
> > >same.
> > >
> > >Apologies to the Tomcat folks for my rant.  Up until now I have been
> > >hunky dory, but I have some production stuff I have to get out the door.

Re: forbidden: you don't have access

[greg <em...@gregorybittar.com>]

Thanks Sean, but I do not think that solves my problem.  I've noticed that
when I access Apache (checking out /var/log/access.log), that whenever I do
not add the '/' slash to the end of a directory name, then Apache seemingly
puts one in there for me and re-executes the page.  In any case, I have tested
my server with localhost:8080/myWebApp/  and it hasn't changed things.  In
fact, I am having more problems with access through my domain name than with
the localhost.  Maybe I'm just all burned out.  Thanks for trying to help
though.  I appreciate the genuine interest.

Sean Schofield wrote:

> This sort of sounds like a problem I was having.  Basically I couldn't get
> to various apps (including the examples) one through Apache-Tomcat but I
> could get them fine through Tomcat standalone (port 8080) but didn't work
> when I was running Apache and Tomcat together and hitting port 80.
>
> I accidentally stumbled upon the solution when I was trying the links from
> the Jakarta welcome page (on 8080) and then just highlighted the ':8080' in
> the URL and deleted it.  It worked!  The difference was that the URL had an
> extra '/' at the end.  Try 'localhost:8080/myWebApp/' with an extra '/' at
> the end.
>
> Let me know if it worked.
>
> - schof
>
> At 04:42 PM 9/25/00 -0400, you wrote:
> >I am trying to reinstall Tomcat, in particular the beta 4, ver 3.2.
> >Whoever decided that not having basic security implemented and working
> >correctly in 3.1 made a mistake, imo.  The advice has been to try using
> >one of the betas, but this isn't a way that people can build their own
> >production systems using Tomcat.  Seeing that something so basic as user
> >authentication was not working, I think the prudent thing to do would
> >have been to go back and re-release 3.1 with this vital feature
> >working.  Indeed, for many people, there is no version 3.1 if there is
> >no user authentication in 3.1.
> >
> >Biting the bullet, I have spent the last several days trying to get the
> >beta to work on my machine, not knowing what to expect next.  I am
> >having several problems.  The shutdown script is not working.  But the
> >real misfortune so far is that I am having difficulty even accessing my
> >application.   I try variously with 8080 and 8007 ports, and I have
> >tried re-installing Tomcat twice, and even copied back my ORIGINAL
> >Tomcat 3.1 installation, which had been working fine, and now I get this
> >behaviour:
> >
> >localhost:8080/myWebApp -> works when Tomcat is set to 8080, doesn't
> >when Tomcat is set to 8007.
> >mydomain.com/myWebApp -> "403 Forbidden: You don't have access to
> >myWebApp on this server
> >
> >I've checked all the file and directory rights I can think of.  Could
> >Tomcat have permanently unsettled my Apache environment?  The weird
> >thing is that my first installation of the beta was going along
> >more-or-less smoothly until I added a security-constraint to myWebApp's
> >web.xml file.  Ever since then, I have been contending with 'forbidden'
> >errors.  Versions of Tomcat have come and gone on my server, as I
> >attempt to regain a stable environment, and yet the song remains the
> >same.
> >
> >Apologies to the Tomcat folks for my rant.  Up until now I have been
> >hunky dory, but I have some production stuff I have to get out the door.

Re: forbidden: you don't have access

[Sean Schofield <se...@schof.com>]

This sort of sounds like a problem I was having.  Basically I couldn't get 
to various apps (including the examples) one through Apache-Tomcat but I 
could get them fine through Tomcat standalone (port 8080) but didn't work 
when I was running Apache and Tomcat together and hitting port 80.

I accidentally stumbled upon the solution when I was trying the links from 
the Jakarta welcome page (on 8080) and then just highlighted the ':8080' in 
the URL and deleted it.  It worked!  The difference was that the URL had an 
extra '/' at the end.  Try 'localhost:8080/myWebApp/' with an extra '/' at 
the end.

Let me know if it worked.

- schof

At 04:42 PM 9/25/00 -0400, you wrote:
>I am trying to reinstall Tomcat, in particular the beta 4, ver 3.2.
>Whoever decided that not having basic security implemented and working
>correctly in 3.1 made a mistake, imo.  The advice has been to try using
>one of the betas, but this isn't a way that people can build their own
>production systems using Tomcat.  Seeing that something so basic as user
>authentication was not working, I think the prudent thing to do would
>have been to go back and re-release 3.1 with this vital feature
>working.  Indeed, for many people, there is no version 3.1 if there is
>no user authentication in 3.1.
>
>Biting the bullet, I have spent the last several days trying to get the
>beta to work on my machine, not knowing what to expect next.  I am
>having several problems.  The shutdown script is not working.  But the
>real misfortune so far is that I am having difficulty even accessing my
>application.   I try variously with 8080 and 8007 ports, and I have
>tried re-installing Tomcat twice, and even copied back my ORIGINAL
>Tomcat 3.1 installation, which had been working fine, and now I get this
>behaviour:
>
>localhost:8080/myWebApp -> works when Tomcat is set to 8080, doesn't
>when Tomcat is set to 8007.
>mydomain.com/myWebApp -> "403 Forbidden: You don't have access to
>myWebApp on this server
>
>I've checked all the file and directory rights I can think of.  Could
>Tomcat have permanently unsettled my Apache environment?  The weird
>thing is that my first installation of the beta was going along
>more-or-less smoothly until I added a security-constraint to myWebApp's
>web.xml file.  Ever since then, I have been contending with 'forbidden'
>errors.  Versions of Tomcat have come and gone on my server, as I
>attempt to regain a stable environment, and yet the song remains the
>same.
>
>Apologies to the Tomcat folks for my rant.  Up until now I have been
>hunky dory, but I have some production stuff I have to get out the door.